Home Birthers & Hopefuls!

[RoxyRoo]

Hi everyone, I'm back here again pregnant with number 2! I had a wonderful home birth with my DD nearly 15 months ago and I can't wait to do it all again.

I rang the midwives office the other day to check in and she remembered me as the 'perfect home birth' It made me smile

 

[gaiagirl]

What a great way to be remembered roxy! Congrats!

Where did you get the cloth diaper button?

 

[La Mere]

Congrats, Roxy! Love your cloth diaper button!

 

[rachiedata]

I rang the midwives office the other day to check in and she remembered me as the 'prefect home birth' It made me smile

Hi Roxy, I'm on no.2 now as well, with my 20-month-old son. Your midwife's comments remind me of my (very senior, now retired) midwife's comment of "Oh, I usually dread getting the call for a home birth, "not another one", but this was just wonderful!" the day after my son was born (massive proud mummy face).

I would just like to have a little rant about the 'Bounty pack' I got from my midwife yesterday - apologies to those outside the UK but I'm sure everywhere else has some awful, mainstream, commercialised "advice" booklet/scheme like this. I was reading through the pack, really just separating the money-off vouchers from the rest of the crap, when I came to 'Choosing your place of birth'. Interested in this (obviously as a home birth evangelist!), I read under the 'home birth' heading, seeing that the writers did not recommend home birth for first time mothers, only second time plus, and actually stated that the risks were greater. Now I know there is a greater risk of transfer (the useful, pro-natural NHS leaflet I got said transfer rates dropped from 80% for first timers to 20% for second timers plus, which is in line with other web research I've seen), but is there concrete evidence that there are greater 'risks', and what are these?

OH does say I have the blinkers on when it comes to risk and home birth, just because I had such a good experience last time, but it felt like the booklet well overstated the risks for first time mums. Downright misleading and false. Can't help but think that as Bounty make their money from taking photos of newborns in the hospital ward, therefore have a vested interest in you being in hospital - where we know interventions leading to Caesarean are more likely etc. etc. RISKY - they would want to put new mums off home birth. Just got my back up that's all!!

 

[caro103]

ooh i'd totally agree with you on wondering about where their facts came from on risks! i'd heard round here something like 55% of 1st time mums transfer in and only 5% of second time mums do but thought the risks were equal!! hmmm

 

[aliss]

I'm surprised these midwives react like that! Here (where midwifery is not common), they said they prefer them, because the mother has a better/more relaxing birth and it makes their job easier when the mother is more comfortable.

 

[gaiagirl]

Yup I asked my MW and she said she prefers HB because it's more uninhibited and the mom is much more comfortable!

 

[RoxyRoo]

Thanks ladies

Here's the link for the cloth diaper blinkie, feel free to use it Just remove the space between img and the ] at the end.

https://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh173/picklesmama/fluff/images/ClothRocks.jpg[/img ]

I couldn't find a cloth nappy one (as we call them in the UK) so I got a cloth diaper one instead.

[quote="rachiedata, post: 25145187"][quote="RoxyRoo, post: 25066633"]I rang the midwives office the other day to check in and she remembered me as the 'prefect home birth' <3 It made me smile :)[/QUOTE]

Hi Roxy, I'm on no.2 now as well, with my 20-month-old son. Your midwife's comments remind me of my (very senior, now retired) midwife's comment of "Oh, I usually dread getting the call for a home birth, "not another one", but this was just wonderful!" the day after my son was born (massive proud mummy face).
[/QUOTE]

Aww, that's so sweet, it's so lovely to be remembered in a positive way isn't it. Our midwives actively push for home birth around here, they love them and are very accommodating.

 

[Laura91]

I agree with a couple of the above posters. My MW said she prefers homebirths as they're more relaxing and stress free.

She'd rather women have homebirths than go into hospital x

 

[merristems]

I hope to be a home birther, great links xx

 

[readynwilling]

hi Ladies. I am leaning in the way of a homebirth. I have concerns that maybe are not "typical". basically its my house keeping

my house is kinda messy. I feel like i would need a massive clean before giving birth at home. Im even prepared to pay someone to do the really dirty work (scrubbing cabinets, shower, floors etc) but that still means i would have to deal the mountains of "stuff" we own. i sometimes feel like a hoarder! I work full time and have a 2 year old, so i don't have any energy left over at the end of the day to tackle any of the organziation/putting away, that needs to happen before the serious cleaning can begin.

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[murmur]

Your home sounds a little like mine - I'm a terrible hoarder!

Your hhouse doesn't need to be a show home for you to be able to have a home birth. Having lots of clutter doesn't mean that your home would be considered unhygenic by the midwives.

I had the same worries with my first home birth and ended up being quite brutal with myself and either gave stuff away on freecycle or sold it on ebay. A couple of times a week I would also force myself to tackle an area of the house and just chuck all the crap I honestly knew I didn't need into a bin bag. I would only give myself an hour max to do it. I found doing it in bite sized chunks really helped.

 

[aliss]

I did a massive clean at 36 weeks (since 37 weeks was the go-ahead for home birth). I think nesting kicks in. Or what the hell... hire a cleaner!!! If you are working full-time, let it be a present to yourself

 

[readynwilling]

Your home sounds a little like mine - I'm a terrible hoarder!

Your hhouse doesn't need to be a show home for you to be able to have a home birth. Having lots of clutter doesn't mean that your home would be considered unhygenic by the midwives.

I had the same worries with my first home birth and ended up being quite brutal with myself and either gave stuff away on freecycle or sold it on ebay. A couple of times a week I would also force myself to tackle an area of the house and just chuck all the crap I honestly knew I didn't need into a bin bag. I would only give myself an hour max to do it. I found doing it in bite sized chunks really helped.

Thanks

Im don't think the house in unhygenic, so i doubt the MW's would. I do have a toddler living there LOL. Its mostly clutter and the floor doesn't get mopped enough cause its covered in clutter And i find if i spend an hour tyding our living spaces, the next day they look just as awful as they did the day before. I really need to GET RID of stuff. Im thinking of taking a week vacation in June, sending DD to daycare, then setting a timer and doing 1 hr every morning and every afternoon. I bet i would get through a lot of it. especially not having the ankle biter running around! and it would be warm enough to take stuff to donation bins or the dump - whereever it needs to end up.

 

[MandaAnda]

Hi, yet again. Third time hopeful.

 

[gaiagirl]

Hygiene wise, you are immune to any reasonable amount of bacteria in your home MUCH more than foreign bugs in the hospital, so no worries there. Except extreme situations, but I'm sure that's not the case!

For clutter, you will probably feel better tackling life with a toddler and newborn with less clutter anyways! Definitely make it a priority and take the time to purge because I bet you will feel so much more mentally prepared for birth in that space and then life with a newborn if you make the space more peaceful! For me, anyways, clutter = stress!

 

[gaiagirl]

And MandaAnda - Congrats! What an awesome due date

 

[ljo1984]

Awww manda so sorry for your loss, but also congrats on your little rainbow. Xxxx

My living room looked like a scene from toys r is on Boxing Day n I cleaned n put away every single toy (bad mummy lol) you need your nest to be perfect and believe me your nesting instinct will see to it lol

 

[Mervs Mum]

Congrats Amanda!!

Your house doesn't need to be clean for a homebirth.....would you do the same cleaning before bringing your baby home fom hospital?! You and your family like there.....how clean and tidy it is, is what you will be living in postpartum.....

 

[murmur]

Welcome back Manda!